


Soldiers of Past and Present

by jessejackreyes



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Day 1, Drinking, Gen, Hana sees 76 as a grumpy old team dad, Platonic Relationships, Regret, Some angst, how we were, looking back, r76 week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 21:49:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9347951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessejackreyes/pseuds/jessejackreyes
Summary: 76 skips out on a training appointment with her, disappears and no one wants to tell Hana anything about what is going on. So what's she to do other than track the old man down and try to figure out whats going on?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Here is my day 1 submission. It ended up longer than I was going for. I is sort of a continuation of my other Hana & 76 fic, Late Night Soldiers(it is a part of a series of stories about the two of them), but you don't have to have read it to read this.

“Hey, anyone know what's wrong with 76?” D.Va ask as she strolls into the somewhat crowded mess hall. She got several shrugs from around the room as she scanned it, hoping for anyone to shine a bit of light on the subject.

“That's a mighty large topic little lady,” Mccree’s familiar drawl rung out across the room. “Ol’ Jack’s always upset about something or another.” 

“Yeah I know our grumpy team dad is not the happiest man in the world but it’s not normally this bad,” She huffed, annoyed at the implicit insult to her perceptiveness. She can tell the difference between his moods by now, they’ve spent enough time together at this point. “He cancelled our shooting practise and has definitely been actively avoiding me since yesterday.”

“Sounds like he’s mad at you,” Mccree accused chuckling softly receiving a loud harrumph from the much younger Korean woman. 

“If you aren’t going to help me I’ll go ask someone else,”

“Calm down darlin’. I was just messin’ around a bit. It's a hard time of the year for Jack but it's personal,” Mccree’s face was suddenly quite somber as he explained. “It's not mine or anyone else’s place to say Hana.”

“So all you old timers know what's going on?” She asked for clarification. Mccree nodded, his customary smile replaced by a soft grimace. “Is anyone going to try to help?” 

“Most of us have tried, in our own ways. Its best to just give him his space for awhile.” 

She ate her meal in uncharacteristic silence. Much of the room had overheard the conversation between the two of them and the ones that didn’t make an excuse to leave the room had fallen rather silent. Hana ate quickly, excusing herself from the room, she would have to talk to the old man herself.

Whatever he was up to, she couldn’t find the old soldier anywhere that day even though Athena swore that he had not left the base. It appeared that he was really good at avoiding people when he didn’t want to be found. He wasn’t even at his spot on the practise range late that night like he usually was. She sighed heavily as she turned towards the exit only to be confronted by Ana Amari standing in the doorway.

“Looking for Jack?” The Egyptian woman asked, a knowing look in her eye.

“Yeah, can’t seem to find ol’ dad 76 anywhere. He’s supposed to be helping me with close quarters combat, I need to be ready to take on non giant opponents in emergencies.” Hana explained trying to avoid the actual reason in case Ana wants to give her the run around like Mccree did earlier.

“It's not like him to skip out on his obligations like that, I wonder if something happened…” The older woman’s voice trailed off at the end, Hana was unsure if it was a question or a statement. She could only shrug, she didn’t really know what was up with him so she didn’t need to pretend to know nothing. “If you wanted to find him though, I might suggest the small unused barrack on the southside of the base. Just a thought,”

“Good luck,” She hears the old sniper call out as she heads out across the base. She clearly knew what was going on and had decided to be more helpful than Mccree had been, though it would have also helped to be told what was going on.

She had heard the old cowboy call the place Ana had mentioned the old Blackwatch bunks once and he avoided it because of, in his own words, the ghosts it holds. The other’s seemed to share that sentiment, or at least to humor it in some way, because the place is not used and most people ignore it even if they do not actively avoid the area. Hana had never been inside, she hadn’t checked there because she just sort of assumed no one ever went there. It was stupid now that she thought about it, but she would worry about that later.

Darkness dominated the building, Athena would normally control the lights as people walked around so that people could see wherever they happened to be. Making her way through dark hallways was not exactly her idea of a good time. She stumbled around blindly for a little while before settling on hugging the wall and slowly moving forward. She finally remembered that her portable had a small flashlight in it that managed to help her navigate but did little to stop the dread that the darkness held.

The darkness was made worse by the overwhelming silence of the place. Perhaps it was because Hana knew that this place was bad news, though she didn't know why, or maybe because it should be full of people, but the way she could clearly hear every soft footfall as she searched the building unnerved her. Quiet had never been a comfort to her, she was used to loud, arcades, games, crowds, giant Omnics, silence was not something she sought out, but she had never minded it. Here it was somehow oppressive though, the noise she made, as soft as it was, was unwelcomed here. She hated the cowboy’s talk of ghosts right now, it was getting to her.

The bunk room was the worst, dark and empty. No one had been here for a long time, it stood dark and empty as if daring people to use it and succumb to some horrible fate the old guard doesn't want to talk about much. She moved on quickly finding no real sign that anyone had been here in years. The sign she had been looking for was a softly glowing light flowing through the bottom of a door just past the bunk house. A private room, an officers quarters, guess the old man was in there.

She hesitated briefly as she stood in front of the door, wondering exactly what she was going to do if he refused to open the doors or talk to her. He spoke little to her of his past directly, even after who he really was became common knowledge. Knowing she had been spending time with Jack Morrison was a bit of a shock, but it also made the man make a lot more sense. What he had lost and the regret he felt, even without knowing the specifics, D.Va could understand to some degree.

She had decided months ago, before the reveal, that she would try to help the man out in her own way. He had believed that the spark that he had when he was younger was lost. That he was no longer driven to be a hero, to help people, that he was just a broken old soldier fighting because he knew nothing else. D.Va knew better, hell, most everyone she had met in Overwatch knew better, at least after the anger and shock of who he was wore off. If something was seriously wrong, she had a promise to keep, a promise she made to herself.

With trepidation, she knocked on the door, trying to find a balance between loud enough and not too loud. A brief silence was interrupted by the telltale sound of footfalls on the other side of the door. 

“Go away,” The old man's voice was feeble, the command had none of his usual strength or presence behind it. It was easy to ignore what he said but the way he said it hurt to hear, something was definitely wrong.

“You missed our training session old man. What gives?” Her voice was indignant as she spoke. She had known the man long enough to know that he wouldn't deal with his problems if you asked him about them directly. She wasn't upset about him not showing up but she could, however, use it to force her way into a conversation and work her way towards figuring out what was wrong.

“Please go away,” It shocked D.Va how vulnerable the former commander sounded through the door. The others might have left at those words, his plea in such a broken voice, but it only made D.Va more determined to talk to him. She knocked again, softly this time making it clear that she was not going to leave.

Hana didn’t know how long the two of them stood in silence, separated by a metal door, neither of them willing to back down. She tried to rein in her rising impatience, it was easier now, 76 had been helping her with it, patience was a useful skill in the field after all, but she could only wait for so long before she moved to knock on the door again, harder this time. She didn’t get the chance, the door opened even as her clenched hand neared the door.

She wasn’t really sure exactly what she expected to see, but the old man without his visor on certainly wasn’t on the list. She had rarely seen his face, and had never seen him outside of his trademark outfit or some similar uniform. Now here he stood in a regular shirt and pants, face exposed, he looked entirely too vulnerable. He must have taken the time to compose himself because, apart from a bit of red under his eyes and a dried tear he had missed, the man was an impassive wall. He had a drink in his hand, scotch maybe. 

“Skipped out on training to drink?” She asked trying to imitate the tone he used when he was reprimanding the others, usually Tracer or Mccree. She couldn’t really pull it off, he told her that she just needed more practise.

“Sorry, we’ll train another time…” Hana didn’t let him finish, quickly ducking under his arm into the room before he could stop her. The room was spartan to say the least, bare walls, a bed, a chair at a mostly empty desk. The only things of note in the room were on the desk, bottles of liquor, two cups, one in the soldier’s hand, the other empty, still on the desk and some odds and ends. It looked like the place hadn’t been touched in year before today.

“So what are we drinking?” She asked taking a seat on the empty bed.

“We are not drinking anything. Besides you’re 19,” There was old 76 back in action, grumpy, strict and caring all rolled into one dad package. 

“Americans,” She exclaims softly, shaking her head. “I can drink in Korea,” She explained with a superior smirk on her face. “Besides if I am old enough to die in battle I think the world can afford me a drink or two. So what do ya got for me?”

“Scotch or Tequila,” 76 sighed, he was too tired to fight this.

“Scotch then,” She waited as he poured her what she asked for proffering it to her. Its stronger than she's used to but nothing she can’t handle. He takes a seat on the chair by the desk and they sat in silence for a bit, Hana nursing her first glass and the soldier downing more than one.

Super soldiers have a hard time getting drunk,” He explains as he sees the look of concern on his face after his fourth glass that she was in the room for. Breaking the silence opens the gate for Hana to start speaking.

“I’ve never seen dad 76 drink before,” She comments out loud, an unspoken question hanging in the air between them. “I thought you didn’t like drinking much,” A more direct accusation.

“I don’t,” He offered simply, silence returning afterwards.

“Special occasion then?” He looked off into the distance as her words hit him, anguish plain on his face. She followed his gaze as his mind snapped back, followed it to a small picture she had overlooked on the desk. A dark skinned man with scars on his face, wearing a beanie was smiling in the picture with the inscription G. Reyes beneath it.

“Who’s he?” Hana asked, her curiosity overriding her tact at the moment.

“An old friend,” A simple response to the question, an evasive one, but Hana was perceptive, you had to be in her line of work. The dog tags the old soldier wore around his neck were exposed right now and the chain held four tags two of which clearly read Gabriel Reyes. It sounded like more than simply an old friend to Hana, but what could she do with that information?

“What happened?” It was a simple and vague question, the best she could come up with while trying to keep him from clamming up like he was want to do.

“A lot, but mostly we stopped listening, then we stopped trying,” His voice broke again as he spoke and he downed another glass as soon as he finished.

“You were close then?”

“Inseparable, it was never Jack or Gabe by themselves, it always Jack and Gabe,” He can't finish a sentence without downing another glass, but none of them seem to do much to him. Maybe that's why he doesn’t care for drinking, it's just too much of a hassle for him to even get drunk.

She got up to pour herself another glass as she finished her first and 76 finished his seventh or eighth. She filled his glass too as they sat together.

“He was the commander of Overwatch during the crisis wasn’t he?” 

“Yep, led us to victory,” Another glass down. “Brilliant tactician, great CO,” She poured him another as he spoke, slowly working her way through her second glass. 

“What was he like?” It was really now or never, if she didn’t broach the subject directly now she might never get another chance to. He stiffened and his eyes shifted nervously for a split second as he seemed to consider what he should say, if he should say anything.

“He was strong, smart,” Another glass down. “He took a long time to warm up to people, but when he got there he could be funny, charming, infuriating,” his eyes grew more distant as he spoke. Another drink down and he continued, “He had the most beautiful smile,” His face grew wistful as he spoke. She nodded and softly hummed in acknowledgment as the soldier spoke, to make sure he knows she is listening and interested but not wanting to interrupt him, to stop what she had started.

“You should have seen his thighs,” 76 laughed, a small laugh directed to a time long past. A smile briefly lit up his face and it reminded her of the old posters that his face was plastered on all the time. Yet another drink downed as the smile left. “He used to say things in Spanish because he thought I couldn't understand. It was maybe a year into the crisis when Ana mentioned off handedly how useful the eyepiece was with its voice translation feature,” he laughed a bit larger this time. “He looked at me wide eyed afterwards and I flashed the biggest grin I could manage as he turned bright red,” another drink down. “He had said some inappropriate things when he thought I couldn't understand. He was so mad I never told him I knew everything he said.”

The alcohol was definitely starting to get to the old man finally. His face was beginning to flush as he downed another drink, laughing as his anecdote reminded him of better times. He spoke more freely now, as if the first few tidbits had opened a flood gate. Hana had little to say or even do really as the old soldier prattled on and on about the past, about Gabriel, about Overwatch, about the crisis, whatever memory popped into his head he seemed to want to vocalise right now. She listened politely, responded when prompted to, she had never heard the man speak so much and had never seen so many emotions cross his face.

“Things were better once,” He said late that night, bottles empty. 76 looked surprisingly sober given how much he drank, Hana drank slowly and much less than he did but by the end she was pretty smashed. “I miss him,” D.Va managed to stand up and place her hand comfortingly on the soldier’s shoulder. They both stumble out of the room, closing the door behind them. “Happy birthday Gabi” She hears 76 whisper softly as they bumble into the abandoned barracks nearby and each collapse onto an empty bed. They are old and dirty, but both soldiers are too drunk and tired to care.

Waking up may have been the biggest mistake that Hana could have ever made after that night. Her head screamed at her, clearly more than a little displeased about her drinking the night before. 76 was already up and gone apparently because he was nowhere to be found.She groaned as she pulled herself out of bed, making her way around the barracks hoping to find her portable.

The old soldier returnEd to the barracks carrying a tray whilst Hana is in the middle of her search. He placed what he brought on a bed nearby and walked over to where D.Va is rummaging around

“Looking for something,”

“Yeah my game system. Think I dropped it last night,” She explained fumbling around.

“Oh, I picked that up. Here,” Pulling it out of one of his pockets, he offers it to the young woman. “I brought food and Angela’s patented cure for hangovers,” He gestures to the tray and hands her some vial full of some clear liquid. “Drink it. Should fix your head up, need you in top shape soldier,” D.Va downed the contents in one shot with a mock salute, amazingly the pain began to suside really quickly.

“Wow that’s good, thanks pops. How often did she make this for you?” Hana asked.

“I don’t get hangovers. Another super soldier thing. Jesse and Lena on the other hand love and can’t really handle their liquor,” They shared a short laugh before D.Va had to give into her hunger and eat whatever he brought from the mess. “I don’t know much about Korean cooking so you get a big American breakfast. It’ll also help your head calm down,” He explained as she eyed the plate full of eggs, meat, potatoes and toast.

She devoured the food quickly, a trait shared amongst an unreasonable amount of the Overwatch personel old and new. She felt much better, much more energized and ready to take on the world again after a hangover cure and a good breakfast.

“That's why you're the dad here 76. Always taking care of the rest of us kids around here,” She smiled as she finished eating.

“Figured you would be miserable this morning after the night you had. Don’t know why you stuck around last night really,”

“Something my mother told me,” She began to explain. “You shouldn’t let someone you care about drink alone.”

“Never thought I’d have such a young drinking buddy,” A very rare full on smile on the man's face. Its gone quickly, but it was there.

“I don’t drink very often,” She amended at the thought.

“Neither do I,”

“Well, I hope you're ready for tonight pops,” She declares, prompting a quizzical ‘what?’ from the old man. “You skipped out on our training so you owe me one.”

“Sure we can do some target practise or hand to hand training tonight,”

“Nah, we’re entering my neck of the woods. You’re going to learn to play some video games,” She looks up at him innocently, a smirk on her face.

“No I’m not,” He told her, his voice harsh and commanding. She laughed in response, after that night she was not going to be so easily thwarted.

“Yep, I’m thinking you would be good at fighting games with your reflexes and speed. I’ve got a few good ones you can try…” She trailed off, leaving the room as she keeps talking and with a deep sigh the old soldier follows her, knowing he isn’t getting out of this one.


End file.
